The Portadown based Loyalist Volunteer Force has warned that it will return to violence if anything happens to one of its senior members, who is in custody facing arms charges. In an exclusive interview with RTÉ, the terror group said that if it detected any form of conspiracy towards Mark Fulton it would return to violence immediately.
The group also called for an independent public inquiry into the murder of its leader Billy Wright at the Maze Prison.
Last night, an RTÉ crew was taken to a secret location where reporter Michael O’Kane met a group of five armed and masked men who claimed to be the leadership of the Loyalist Volunteer Force. One of them read out a lengthy statement.
In it, he spoke of the organisation’s concerns over the detention of Mark Fulton, who the RUC believe has taken over the leadership of the paramilitary group. He was arrested in Portadown three months ago and is currently in Magaberry prison facing charges of possessing a loaded pistol with intent to endanger life.
In its statement, the LVF said that if it became evident that any form of conspiracy, political or otherwise, existed towards Mark Fulton it would not hesitate, in its own words, to go back to war immediately.
Before the LVF went on ceasefire last May, the group murdered a number of Catholics in mid-Ulster and Belfast. Since then, it has handed in a small amount of weapons to be destroyed, but said that any future decommissioning has been jeopardised by the detention of its leader.
The group also claimed that it had nothing to do with recent Loyalist attacks on Catholic homes. It claimed that the LVF had no connection with dissident loyalist groups such as the Orange Volunteers and the Red Hand Defenders. This morning, First Minister David Trimble said it that the British Government should look strongly at setting up an inquiry into the Billy Wright murder. He said such issues do fester and have a negative effect on the body politic.
